Lost
by RandomDragon2.0
Summary: *Cover image is a WIP* The Overlord has returned, and has finally succeeded at taking over the world. The ninja team has been split up, and all hope seems lost. With nothing but darkness covering the once beautiful lands of Ninjago, is there even a chance that things could go back to the way they where? Set after season 7
1. Chapter 1

The sound of dripping water was the only thing that could be heard in the dark caverns where a teen sat. He sat in a small cage, a bucket full of dirty water the only other thing inside it. He sighed as his ruby red eyes looked out into the blackness beyond the bars.

He had lost count of how long he had been in this place a long time ago. He lost all hope of ever being free again a long time ago as well. Every day was the same, he sat in his cell, a robot brought him food and refilled the water, then he slept till the next day began. Of course he couldn't really tell what time of day it was, he wasn't sure that he remembered what sunlight looked like anymore.

Sometimes he wondered why he didn't just kill himself. Surely then he would finally be free of this endless cycle, but for some reason he didn't. Perhaps he was scared that things would be worse after death, or maybe he still had hope that his friends where alive, and there was a chance that things could go back to the way they where before the takeover.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway, and red eyes shined out of the darkness as another robot (or was it the same one, he never could really tell the difference between them) brought him his food for the day.

He sighed and looked up to the single light bulb hanging above his head.

 _'If you guys are out there, I hope you haven't forgotten about me.'_

~x~X~x~

The center of Ninjago City had been turned into a giant factory. There, many people where forced to work on the creation of the Overlord's robotic army. Among the slaves, where two teens. One was assigned to keep all the machines in working order, while the other made sure that everyone met their daily quota for the day. The latter was currently walking down a hallway, checking off a mental checklist of things that she had already completed. Many thought she was lucky to have the job given to her, but she didn't see it that way. She had to turn in a list of anyone who didn't get their work done on time, then was forced to watch as they where punished.

So far, everyone seemed to be on track today, which meant there might not be any punishments today. But given how much the nindroids enjoyed whipping people, probably not. She stopped in front of the main floor and watched as all the workers quickly did there jobs. They didn't make any mistakes, cause just one meant that you wouldn't have any food or water for the next two days. You'd also have to work overtime during that time period.

Seeing that everything was going smoothly, she wrote something down on a notepad she was carrying and continued on her way.

Else where in the factory, the other teen sat beneath one of the broken machines, working as quickly as he could to fix it. He was glad to have gotten a job doing what he loved, and in the same place where the love of his life worked as well. The others had always said he was lucky, but he never realized just how lucky he could be till the takeover.

Of course it was a curse at the same time. He didn't have a choice in the work he did, and neither did she. They where both trapped in this hell hole, and there didn't seem to be any way out.

He wiped his brow as he reconnected a few wires, then signaled to a nearby nindroid to start the machine. It whirred to life, now working perfectly. He then grabbed his tool kit, and went to do his daily check of the machines in the main room.

The teens passed each other in the hallway, and both gave a small smile. They might not of had their freedom anymore, but they still had each other.

~x~X~x~

 _'It's been so long, why does it still hurt so much?'_

A teen sat alone in his camp. He was looking towards a small pond, thinking about what things where like before the takeover.

He could still remember the day when everything changed, the day when he could no longer be a part of a team.

The sound of the explosion that the rocket he failed to warn the others about made as it collided with the building. The sudden rush of emotions as he watched it burn to the ground and the Overlords robots went searching for their bodies.

He wasn't sure how he escaped, everything was a blur after that, but he did remember waking up in the mountains, wounded and weak. He knew he couldn't go back, there was nothing left, and he couldn't face the Overlord on his own.

He only had one job, and he had failed. His friends had cost with their lives. Now he just spent his time trying to survive. Survive from the nindroids, from the strange monsters that lurked in the place he now called home, and from the guilt that threatened to wash over him and drag him away.

Gripping the handle of his weapon, the teen stood up and walked into the thick foliage. Hunting helped to keep his mind off of all the terrible things that had happened, but he knew it was only a distraction. Soon enough, he would be back and the thoughts would circle around in his mind like a swarm of angry bees.

He wasn't sure how much more of this nightmare he could take.

~x~X~x~

"I believe I have found where Lloyd is located at," A nindroid stated as he looked over to his teammate," That accounts for three of the team, and I have also located the other elemental masters."

"Great, but what about... him?"

"I'm sorry, but no one has seen him since the incident. The information I gathered from the last nindroid to see him showed that he had been injured greatly, the chances that he survived are very small."

The teen gave a small sigh, then looked towards the screen," Any news on their families?"

"Ray and Maya are working in the southern section, while Ed and Edna are up north. Lou is located in the central factory."

"Good, we work on getting the elemental masters first, then we're getting the team back," The teen replied, determination written over all his features," I'm not going to lose any more of my family."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, I'm updating again :D**

 **Now you all will finally get to see if your theories on who is who are correct or not. I'm kinda curios as to just how many of you managed to get it right.**

 **ABCSKW123-IX: Actually, I didn't really think of season three at all while I was writing this. Kinda odd since I used the nindroids as the main enemy...**

 **SpiritfirewaterNinja: Very dark days if this goes the way I've got it planned out in my head**

 **NinjagoMLP77: Here's the next chapter for you :**

 **boomletstudios: Thanks for the review, I think the peeps in the factory where two of the easiest to figure out**

 **rbrill345: Yes, lots of suspense**

 **~x~X~x~**

The sound of footsteps woke up the teen sleeping in his cage. He looked up and saw a nindroid approaching with a plate of food.

'That's weird,' he thought to himself, he might not be able to tell time, but for some reason he knew it wasn't time for him to eat yet.

The robot slid the tray under the door, and waited for the prisoner to give him the currently empty water bucket. He complied and slid it under before grabbing his tray and scarfing down the food.

He found that it seemed to taste a lot better than it usually did. As soon as he was finished he turned back to the nindroid to give it the tray. He was surprised to see that the robot had replaced the dirty bucket with a glass of clean water.

He was even more surprised when that same robot raised his hand so it was hovering over the cup and asked," Would you like to have some ice with that?"

Two ice cubes formed in his hand and dropped in the cup.

"Z-Zane?" The teen asked, bewildered at what he was seeing. Suddenly the image of the nindroid changed from one of the Overlord's machines, to that of the familiar face of the titanium ninja.

"It's been a long time Lloyd," The robot stated as he opened the cage door with a set of keys that seemed to have come out of nowhere.

The blond jumped to his feet and ran out the cell, before wrapping his arms around the teammate he hadn't seen in who knows how long.

"But how, I-I thought you where scrapped?"

"Me and Cole managed to hide away before the nindroids could find us. Sadly, the others weren't so lucky."

"So you have a plan then?"

"Yes, Skylor is waiting for us at the end of the tunnel, and is serving as lookout to make sure we aren't surprised. Cole and some of the other elemental masters are currently working on freeing the rest of the team."

Lloyd went silent for a moment, and glanced back at the prison," Do you think we have a chance to beat him this time?"

A heavy silence filled the space between the two elemental masters. Zane wasn't sure how to respond, he didn't want to lie to his friend, yet didn't want to upset him either.

Finally he responded with," We can only have hope that the future will be brighter."

Lloyd seemed to accept the answer and the ninja quickly moved down the long tunnel. It was pitch black as they made their way through, and the blond relied on the soft glow coming from the nindroid's eyes to guide him through the darkness.

Eventually, they found the end of the tunnel, which opened up to a large room of sorts. There weren't any windows, and the door appeared to be made out of some sort of metal. Slight movement caused Lloyd to glance to the left, where he saw none other than Skylor, coming out of where she had been hiding behind some sort of box.

"It's been a while," the red head greeted with a smile, then turned towards Zane," If we're going to get out of here, we're going to have to do it now. Cole was spotted at the factory and the guards are going crazy. It won't take long for OV to realize that we're going after the rest of the elemental masters."

The white ninja nodded and moved to the door. Carefully opening it, he peaked out into the hallway. He signaled that the coast was clear, and moved all the way into the hallway, lowering his mask as he did.

It wasn't till then that Lloyd noticed his friend was wearing a different gi then the one he had last time they saw each other. It was mostly black, and knowing the Overlord's favorite color scheme suggested that color would be extremely helpful for blending in, yet still had some areas of white on it. His tiger symbol was on his chest, while the symbol for ice was on his back.

Skylor's suit still looked basically the same, though the blond did notice a few tears here and there. She must have gotten into a fight recently.

The trio was able to make it out of the building without much trouble. There was one point when they where almost spotted by one of the guards, but one of Zane's shurikens quickly put him out of commission.

When they got outside, Zane led them to alleyway where they where supposed to meet up with Cole when he was finished with his mission.

Lloyd then took the time to really look at the outside world that he hadn't seen in a very long time. The cool night gently blowing through his hair felt so much nicer than the stuffy hot air of his below ground prison.

He looked up at the night sky and gasped, he had forgotten just how amazing it was to look up at the stars.

Zane smiled as he looked at the younger ninja, who seemed to be in a trance as he continued to stare up at the sky.

~x~X~x~

Nya was cleaning up for the night, double checking all of her papers and ensuring that everyone had done their work. Satisfied that she wouldn't have to watch some pour soul get tortured tonight, the teen started walking towards the machine room.

Her and Jay always walked to their assigned apartments together, they where fortunate enough to get rooms right across from each other. They where no where near as cozy as their old temple had been, but they had been forced to abandon it when the Overlord managed to find it's location.

About halfway there, the lights suddenly flickered a few times, before going out completely. The raven haired teen sighed, knowing this meant Jay would have to spend overtime on fixing whatever the problem is.

The sound of footsteps came from behind her, and Nya turned to see a nindroid walking down the hallway. He looked at her and a red light shown from one of his eyes as he scanned her from head to toe. The water master just waited for the robot to finish, having been through this countless times before. It finished it's scan, and seeming satisfied, began to continue on it's way.

The hazel eyed teen was about to start walking again, but halted when she got the feeling she was being watched. The nindroid was still walking away from her, so it couldn't have been him, but what else could there be?"

There was a loud crash and the nindroid was suddenly a sparking mass of metal laying on the floor. A large figure was standing over it, but it was to dark to see the person's face.

Adrenaline started racing through Nya's system as the figure walked towards her, and she instantly took a defensive pose to show whoever it was that she wasn't going out without a fight.

"Whoa," the figure said, with a voice that was surprisingly familiar," I thought you would be a little more happy to see me."

"Cole?" She asked in disbelieve, staring at the earth ninja with wide eyes.

"That's me," the teen confirmed by turning on a small flashlight," I'm here to get you and Jay out of here. Do you know where he is?"

"Yeah," Nya confirmed with a shake of her head," Follow me."

~x~X~x~

Jay sighed as the nindroids continued to tell him to work faster.

"I'm going as fast as I can," He finally said after about the 50 millionth time of them yelling at him," If I mess something up because of you distracting me then we might not have power for a week!"

The robots grumbled, but the pestering significantly declined enough for the master of lightning to actually get to work. The odd thing was, he couldn't find anything wrong with the systems. He was sure he checked through everything.

Scratching his head, he looked through everything once more, trying to see if maybe he had missed something. Just as he was about to give up, a small spark caught his eye.

The auburn haired teen reached out to it and found that it was a broken wire that was causing all the damage. He probably would have laughed if he didn't also notice that the wire appeared to have been cut.

He was considering informing the nindroids when there was a sudden crashing behind him. Turning quickly, he found that all the robots where on the ground, his girlfriend and someone else standing next to her.

No it wasn't just someone, it was his best friend.

"Cole!" Jay shouted, running up and hugging the larger ninja.

Nya chuckled seeing the smile on the blue eyed teen's face. She hadn't seen that smile in a long time, and she noticed that there seemed to be a certain spark in his eyes again. She realized that the appearance of his friend had given Jay hope, something they had both lost a long time ago.

"Hey, are you going to greet your girlfriend or what?" She asked, opening up her arms as Jay suddenly let go of Cole and wrapped his arms around her.

"You know I would never forget about you," He said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Oh really," Nya responded," Your going to have to prove it."

Accepting her challenge, Jay pulled the raven haired girl closer and pressed his lips against hers. They both sank into each other's embrace, enjoying their moment together.

Cole turned away, feeling like he was intruding on their moment.

None of them noticed one of the nindroids eyes start glowing again, at least not until he sent out a distress signal.

"ALERT! Rouge ninja spotted in the factory! Requesting bac- " There was an explosion of sparks as Cole smash the head of the robot with a large rock.

"We need to leave NOW!" Cole stated, already running to the nearest window. Jay and Nya followed close behind, neither wanting to be here when the Overlord's army arrived.

~x~X~x~

"Where are they?" Shade asked as he paced impatiently at the edge of the city," They said they would meet us here 30 minutes ago!"

"Perhaps ninja have run in with metal men?" Karloff suggested.

"Well I say we should just go on without them," Griffen said," It's better than staying here like a bunch of sitting ducks."

"Do not forget that it is because of Cole that we are all free," Nuero interrupted," He has a plan to get us somewhere where the nindroids won't be able to find us."

"And where would that be?" Tox questioned, glaring at the mind reader.

Nuero opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a shout from Camille," Guys, they're coming!"

Sure enough the ninja and Skylor emerged from the shadows and where quickly greeted by the others.

"All right, so you're all here," Shade stated, looking at the ninja of earth," What's this plan of yours?"

"I'll tell you guys," Cole promised," But first we need to get inside, We definitely don't need those nindroids spotting us now."

The group went inside an old building, where Lloyd saw some of the other elemental masters waiting. There where also a few other familiar faces in the small crowd.

"Well if it isn't the mighty green ninja," Dareth said with a laugh as he stepped forward," Now I know we can win the fight!"

The others gave a small chuckle before moving to the center of the table where a large map was drawn out.

"Nya?" A voice called out, and the raven haired girl turned to see her parents standing near the map, along with the other ninja's parents.

Maya rushed forward to greet her daughter, while Lloyd ran up to where his mother was waiting with open arms.

Even Jay didn't seem to care about how embarrassed he would get as he embraced his parents.

Cole and Zane shared a smile, glad that they where finally getting their family back together. Speaking of witch, the black ninja felt someone hug him from behind and turned to see his father standing there.

They all enjoyed a moment of quite with their respective families before Nya realized that something was off.

"Hey guys, where's Kai?"

A sudden heaviness filled the room, as Cole and Zane averted their gaze and the elemental masters all glanced at each other, not sure what to do.

Jay took a step back from his parents and looked around," Yeah, were is he? Have you not rescued him yet?"

Lloyd realized that something was wrong when no one answered their questions. Nya looked back at her parents and saw the saddness in their features," What's going on? W-where's my brother?"

Even Skylor had no idea what was going on, she had been freed just before they had gone to rescue the rest of the ninja.

"I'm sorry," Cole said, finally looking up to meet the water ninja's gaze," We couldn't find him. It's like he just disappeared."

Jay stepped closer to Nya, not liking the tone of his friend's voice.

"Disappeared? N-no that has to be some sort of mistake," Lloyd spoke up, refusing the possibility that the person he looked up to as a friend, mentor, and an older brother could be...

"I'm afraid that isn't a mistake Lloyd," Zane said, sorrow obvious in his voice," He's gone."

If they had thought the silence before was bad, the one that followed those two words was unbearable.

Nya felt tears starting to well up in her eyes, and in a flash Jay was right there, his arms wrapped around her as he whispered words of comfort, even though it was obvious this news had had quite the effect on him as well.

Lloyd backed up a few steps, still refusing to believe that what they said could be true. Misako placed a hand on his shoulder, and the teen turned around, nearly knocking the older woman down as he hugged her. She knew how how close her son had been with the master of fire, and also knew it was going to take him a while to get over this.

Skylor stood frozen to the spot. the last time she had spoken to the brunette replaying in her mind over and over.

 _"Don't worry Sky," Kai said with a smirk as he squeezed the redhead's hand," Once Jay hacks into the main computer the Overlord will lose complete control of his army. There's no way he'll be able to stop us then."_

 _"Like he even stands a chance," Jay laughed as he gathered his supplies._

 _"I don't know Kai, I have a bad feeling about this, Maybe you should come help me get the civilians to safety," Skylor suggested, her green eyes pleeding for Kai to say yes._

 _"You know I'll always fight by my brothers and sister, trust me it will be in and out, it isn't our first time dealing with this guy."_

 _He squeezed her hand once more before letting go and grabbing his katanas._

 _"Just be careful out there Kai. There's no telling what the enemy could have planned for you."_

 _"Please, they'll never see me coming," The red ninja bragged with a smirk," We'll save everybody and be back home before you know it. Then maybe we could talk about going on another date." He winked at her and walked out of the room with his teammates._

Maya saw the girl's distress and went to comfort her. She had excepted Skylor into their family soon after she found out about her son's relationship with the orange clad teen. In turn, Skylor ended up looking towards Maya as a mother figure, seeing as she had never really known her birth mother and her father was in the departed realm.

Cole sighed as he watched his fellow ninjas reaction to the news. He hated seeing them all like this, but he also knew that there was no time to waste. The nindroids could find them again at any moment.

He walked over to the map and got everyone's attention," All right guys, I know this is a lot to take in right now, but we need to get out of the city as soon as possible."

"And where are we supposed to go?" Tox asked.

"Yeah, nindroids are everywhere," Bolobo added," There's no where to go that we won't be caught and forced to work again."

"Karloff not like mining metal to create metalmen," the master of metal whined.

"If you guys would listen to me," the earth ninja pointed to the map," It's true that the Overlord has taken over Ninjago, but he doesn't control all of it."

The elemental masters all looked at each other, and started mumbling to themselves. Where could the Overlord possibly not be able to control.

It was at this moment that Zane chose to step forward, his icy blue eyes scanning the crowd to make sure everyone was paying attention," When we hacked into the Overlord's computer systems, not only where we able to find all of your locations, but we also found that there was a place where his nindroids where unable to enter. Any that did lost connection with the system within an hour."

"And where is this place at exactly," Shade crossed his arms and looked expectantly at the nindroid.

Cole took out a throwing knife and threw it at the map, it landed right at the spot where Hiroshi's Labyrinth was located.

"Wait, the nindroids had no problem following when me and Dad tried to hide from them there," Lloyd stated,"What would be different now?

"We do not know for certain," Zane answered," But I suspect that some large predator has probably moved into the area to escape the nindroids, and sees any that enter as a threat to it's territory."

"So you want us to go somewhere with some giant creature that could eat us all at any moment?" Camille asked.

"Would you rather stay here with the nindroids?"

"Good point."

"Great," Cole pulled his knife out of the table," We get some sleep, and in the morning we head to Hiroshi's labyrinth.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this one's short, but I kinda have a lot of projects going on at the moment, and drawing takes a lot longer than writing. I honestly don't think this is as good as my usual stuff (I guess I'm just better at more actiony and emotional scenes), but I didn't feel like rewriting it or deleting it. There was also going to be a small scene showing when the elemental masters where leaving there little safe house, but it didn't really fit with the story nor was it relevant.**

 **...**

 **I also have yet to finish the picture for this story...**

 **Let's just say it's not at the top of my priorities list right now.**

 **Loki God of Evil: Yeah, I might have regrets trying to keep track of so many characters later, but meh. Oh, and just cause your a god doesn't mean I you get to know things before anyone else does. Also Kai doesn't seem to want an overly powerful evil god knowing his location for some reason. He gave me $50 dollars just so I wouldn't tell you, though I might do it just to mess with him. Wait, he just paid me a hundred more (where does he get his money from?).**

 **ABCSKW123-IX: You are very optimistic. Also, here we get a little mini explanation for that knife throwing. and yes, I know about the PM's, I just choose not to use them :D**

 **NinjagoMLP77: Dude, your review almost made me want to change the whole mid section of my story... almost, but then I realized it would mes with the further story line to much**

 **StoriesAreMagic: I might of had a little to much fun with Zane in that particular scene... and I honestly feel that Ray and Maya would get along with Skylor, once Ray got over the whole my son is dating the daughter of my enemy thing.**

 **MasterofCupcakes: Glad you like it!**

 **~x~X~x~**

Jay sighed as he tossed and turned in his sleeping bag. The sun would be rising in a few hours and then everybody would be heading to Hiroshi's Labyrinth. He didn't know a lot about the jungle, except that it was hot, humid, and crawling with all sorts of strange creatures big and small. He was fine with the high temperatures, but he wasn't a big fan of the humidity. Being from the desert he was use to the air being pretty dry.

He looked at his girlfriend, who was laying a few feet away from him. She had woken up earlier from a nightmare of some sort, which the auburn haired teen could only guess had something to due with her brother. He had woken up after hearing her softly crying to herself, and had sat and talked with her till she fell back asleep.

Now he found that he was the one that couldn't sleep. silently crawling out of his bag, and checking to make sure that he hadn't accidentally woken everybody up, he walked over to a small set of stairs that led up to the roof.

He could just see a hint of color on the horizon, indicating that the sun would be rising a lot sooner than he had originally thought. Giving out another sigh, he sat down and looked up at the sky, tracing out the different constellations and making up his own.

The sound of footsteps alerted him that he wasn't alone. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Cole walking over to him.

"Hey Zaptrap."

"Morning."

The ninja of earth sat down next to his and Jay glanced at him.

"So what are you doing up so early Cole?"

"Funny, I came here to ask you the same thing."

The blue ninja just shrugged his shoulders," Couldn't sleep."

"Come on, I know you better than that. What's wrong?"

"I guess I'm just worried," the younger ninja sighed yet again," There are so many things that could go long, and I'm scared that if the Overlord manages to catch us again, me and Nya, we'll be... "

"Your scared you'll be separated from her," Cole guessed, wrapping an arm around his friend.

"Yeah, but at least I'll have a good reason to give those nindroids a real shock if I see them go anywhere near her," He joked, earning a small chuckle from the raven haired teen.

Cole looked back up and saw the sun starting to rise over the horizon," I don't know how it's possible, but I've actually missed your jokes."

"Maybe I should write a book for you and put all of my best content in it."

"Ok, maybe I haven't missed them that much."

They both laughed again for a moment before Jay noticed the small knife that Cole had used the day before tucked away in his belt.

"Hey Cole, where did you learn how to throw a knife so accurately, I thought that was Ka-," He paused for a second after nearly saying the fire ninja's name," That was his thing."

The older ninja averted his gaze for a second before answering," I had actually asked him if he could teach me how to do it. I'm no where near as good as he was, but I can hit things about three feet away. Of course I don't think I will ever get how he was able to do it with a full sized sword."

"I don't even know how he managed to do that! He had to of learned it before he started training with Wu, because that doesn't seem like the sorta thing he would teach."

They both fell silent again. Glancing back at the rising sun, Cole stood up and stretched.

"We better go wake up the others, we have a lot of ground to cover."

~x~X~x~

"How could you have let them all escape!?" The Overlord yelled.

One nindroid stepped forward," They had help from the ninja that had originally thought to have died when you took over sir."

The evil being growled before stabbing the nindroid with a black sword," We wouldn't of had that problem if you idiots had done your job properly and at least made sure to have found the bodies before assuming things!"

He pulled out the weapon and the nindroid fell in a shower of sparks," Which of the ninja was it?"

Another nindroid stepped forward to speak in the impaled robots place," The black ninja was seen at the factory. There is also evidence that the white ninja had assisted in Chen's daughter and Lloyd's escape."

"The ninja are probably trying to start some sort of rebellion with those other elemental masters they freed, however this also works against them, since a large number of people would be hard to hide," The Overlord paused in front of a cracked mirror on one of the walls and examined the body he had finally managed to create.

His skin was pitch black, while his purple eyes glowed brilliantly in the darkness of his base. Hair as black as night sat neatly combed on his head, and his purple and black robes had the look of Royalty to them. He smiled, revealing two rows of sharp teeth as he thought about everything he had accomplished so far. His army had already disposed of one of those pests. He had seen the footage himself and knew that no human could survive the amount of blood loss he was suffering from for long. The rest of ninja knew they didn't stand a chance against him, so they weren't very likely to try a direct attack.

It was much more likely that they would find some place to hide away until they came up with some way to destroy his army and free the world from his grasp. He would need to find them before then, and he knew just who to send to get the job done.

 **Any guesses on who the OV plans to send on a ninja hunt?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Next chappie's up peeps, woo hoo!**

 **Don't know about you but this little dragon is really excited for some reason**

 **well on to responses:**

 **RiverIsTheMagicWord: yup, I had a thought of it actually being a scene with Jay and Lloyd, and then a tiny thought that maybe he accidentally woke up Nya, but Cole just seemed to fit best with that part. And yes, it pains me to see Nya like that as well (says the dragon who is doing it to her). And your right about the villain part, guess you'll have to keep reading to find out more**

 **ABCSKW123-lX: yup, you got the knife throwing thing right. oh, and it is implied that it has been quite a while since the last time that Kai was seen, but I never really set a specific amount of time. Just know it's been a while, like longer than just a few months. Also, if you want to find out who it is that is going after the ninja, then your going to have to wait cause this chapter has nothing to do with him, maybe...**

 **Legoninjagokai: I'm glad you like it you asked for more, so here you go**

 **StoriesAreMagic: Yes, good ole brotherly fluff, and poor wittle bitty Kai *gets yelled at by said fire ninja for writing that* and as for whoever is chasing them, guess you'll have to wait to find out.**

 **~x~X~x~**

Griffen sighed as he waited for everyone to catch up with him. One of the problems with being the master of speed was that it made everyone else seem really, really, REALLY slow. Groaning in frustration he ran back to the group.

"Come on, I thought you said we're in a hurry," He complained.

"Ugh, I personally think we should stop for minute," Dareth said, panting as he struggled to keep up," Not that the brown ninja needs it, but you know some of these other guys might need to rest their feet."

"Not me," Gravis stated as he floated past.

"Why can't we just use our dragons to get there," Bolobo asked.

"Because a bunch of giant glowing dragons would be way to easy to spot dummy," Tox stated, crossing her arms," But I agree that we should find somewhere to stop for a bit. My feet hurt."

"We can rest when we reach the base of the mountains," Cole said as he and Zane examined the map," We should be able to get there right before nightfall."

"But the sun won't be setting for another couple of hours," Paleman pointed out.

"If you want to risk getting caught then that's fine by me," The raven haired teen responded before continuing to walk forward.

"Well we wouldn't be in this mess if you ninja had done your job and finished him off the first time around," Shade said, grumpy from the long journey.

Lloyd flinched at this, suddenly thinking that everything that was happening was his fault. If he had destroyed the Overlord during there very first battle then they wouldn't be dealing with him now.

Zane seemed to sense the younger ninja's troubles, as he put a hand on the teen's shoulder and gave him a comforting smile.

"Do not blame yourself for this Lloyd. There is no way you could have predicted that the Overlord would return, and you are not the only one who failed to end him for good."

"Yeah," Jay joined in," If anything, this is my fault. I should have known something was fishy about those computers even before I started hacking into them."

Nya joined in next," I should have stayed out with my brother instead of leaving him on his own."

"If anything, I should have known that the whole thing smelled fishy," Cole finally added," We all failed in some way or another."

"What exactly did happen during that mission?" Skylor suddenly asked.

"Yeah, I'm curious as to how OV managed to defeat you all," Camille joined in on the conversation.

Everyone else also took a step closer, suddenly very interested in the topic.

Cole gave a small sigh before beginning the tale.

~x~X~x~

"Is this the place Zane?" Lloyd asked, glancing down at an old factory building.

"Positive," The white ninja responded," All the data points to the main computer the Overlord is using to control the nindroids is in this building."

"Someone should stay outside to make sure we don't get surprised by any patrols coming," Cole stated.

Lloyd nodded before turning towards Kai.

The red ninja gave the younger a confused look before it clicked," Wait, why do I have to stay out here?"

"We need Jay to hack into the computer, Zane is the one who knows where it's at, we need Cole's strength if we run into a large number of nindroids while where in there. Also, you and electronics don't really get along."

"Fine," Kai reluctantly agreed, before mumbling something inaudible under his breath.

"I could stay out here to if you wanted," Nya suggested, not exactly keen on leaving her brother by himself.

"I'll be fine Sis, just hurry up and get it over with. The sooner this is done the sooner I can go back to beating Jay's ass in a sparring match."

"Hey, that is not at all how I remember it hap- " Jay was suddenly interrupted by Cole putting a hand over his mouth.

"Do you want to give our position away?"

Jay closed his mouth, but sent a glare at the fire ninja, who was quietly chuckling.

"Come on guys," Lloyd pointed to the front of the building, "The coast is clear, we need to move before the next patrol comes."

All of the ninja except for Kai jumped down and ran to the building. Lloyd opened up the door, and seeing no nindroids in sight, opened it wider so the rest of the team could enter. The door closed with a soft click behind them as they slowly made their way forward.

"Which way are we going Zane?" Cole asked, opening up a door and peeking in another room.

"The computers are on the second floor, but I sense that there are some nindroids between us and our destination. We are going to have to be careful."

The team sneaked through the hallways, following Zane's directions and avoiding the occasional nindroid.

Eventually they came to a door with two guards standing in front of it. Lloyd signaled Jay and the master of lightning short circuited their systems. Nya splashed their insides with water to ensure they couldn't somehow send out an alarm.

Inside the room they found a large computer, surrounded by several smaller ones, with another nindroid sitting in a chair in front of it.

Zane took out the robot with one of his shurikens and Jay pushed it out of the way to sit down.

Lloyd heard a buzzing coming from his wrist communicator and saw that Kai was calling him.

"Kai, what's wrong?"

"You guys have to get out of there, there's a whole bunch of nindroids heading strait to the building."

"How long till they get here?" Cole asked.

"About four minutes or so."

"That's all the time I'll need to hack this baby," Jay bragged, already typing away on the keyboard.

"You better be right Jay, I have a bad feeling about this," A small amount of worry was evident in Kai's voice.

Glancing around, Cole also realized that something about this seemed off. First they had almost no problem getting in here, you would think the computer the Overlord uses to control his army would be well guarded, and now there was a ton of enemies suddenly moving in on their position.

Glancing back at the blue ninja, he noticed Jay seemed to be confused about something on the screen, but since Cole didn't know that much about computers he couldn't really tell what it was.

"Guys, you have to get out of there right now, they brought fucking rocket launchers with them!" Kai was definitely worried now," They know we're here!"

At that moment a sudden screech filled the room, and Jay jumped back as the computer screen started flashing red.

"It's a trap!" Lloyd yelled," Everyone out!"

They had just ran out of the room when a large explosion went off outside.

"Kai, what was that?" Cole asked as he and the others made their way back downstairs.

"They're firing the missiles, I'm not sure how long I can hold them back. You guys have to- " There was a sudden yelp and another explosion went off outside.

"Kai, are you alright?" Nya didn't even bother to try and hide how worried she was for her brother right now.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the brunette responded, panting slightly," Just hurry up and get out!"

The ninja finally made it down on the first floor as yet another explosion shook the whole building.

"Zane, find the fastest way out of here!" Lloyd ordered.

"The shortest route out of the building would be through a window on the east side."

"Kai, did you get that?"

The only thing Lloyd got in response was static.

"Kai, what's wrong? Why aren't you answering?" The blond was starting to panic now.

After what felt like an eternity to the worried ninja, someone did respond, but it wasn't the master of fire's voice they heard.

"I am afraid that the red ninja can't respond right now, he's a bit held up at the moment."

"Pythor!" Lloyd spat out.

"What did you do to my brother?!" Nya cried out," If you've hurt him I swear I'll-"

"Calm down, I haven't hurt him... yet. But I mussst say, he isn't the one you should be worried about right now," the large snake chuckled.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Jay started panicking," We're all so hooped, they're going to blast us all into tiny little bits and there's nothing we can do about it!"

Nya grabbed the blue ninja's arm," Relax, everything will be fine, right guys?"

"Oh look," Pythor said," there loading the next missile."

Lloyd and Zane exchanged worried looks while Cole stood, trying to figure out a way to get out of this situation. They didn't have enough time to get to the window, but maybe if he...

"I believe it is time for me to say farewell to you all," The anacondrai general announced," Goodbye little ninja."

"Everybody get down!" Cole yelled suddenly, summoning a dome of rock right before a large explosion went off, causing the building to crumble to the ground.

 **CLIFFHANGER! Bum bum BUM!**

 **Guess you'll have to wait till the next update to find out what happens next**

 ***evil grin***

 **Kai: Guys, I really don't like where this is going**

 **Jay: Aren't you supposed to be dead?**

 **RD: I can summon whoever I want into this part of the story, weather they be dead, cursed, lost, or in the middle of some important mission**

 **Cole: So is that why I have motion sickness?**

 **RD: Yup, now say bye**

 **Jay: But what about the others?**

 **RD: Don't worry, they don't know your gone and you won't remember any of this when I send you back to the story**

 **Kai: Wait, your gonna send us back!? No no no no, I don't want to go back!**

 **RD: to bad, this is all the time I have for the day, bye internet peeps**


	5. Chapter 5

**I watched the first episode of Sons of Garmadon today, and I gotta say that it's awesome. Kai and Jay made me laugh so hard! I won't give out any spoilers of course, I hate when people do that to me.**

 **You can definitely tell that the original writers are back on the show**

 **~x~X~x~**

 **MasterofCupcakes: yup, and now here's the rest of it :D**

 **StoriesAreMagic: Yeah, Dareth is pretty fun to write for, and I'm glad you think I'm doing pretty good with them**

 **boomletstudios: That's my job ;)**

 **Loki God of Evil: Yeah, the ninja completely fell for that one. As Jay would say, they where pretty shocked**

 **ABCSKW123-lX: and now you get the rest of the origin story**

 **~x~X~x~**

Zane rubbed his temple as his systems steadily powered back on. Looking around he saw that he was behind a large pile of rubble left over from the building and the rock wall Cole had made right before the missile had hit.

Speaking of Cole, he was laying, unconscious, next to the nindroid. Pixal did a quick scan of the teen which revealed that he did not have any major injuries.

He gave a small sigh of relief and looked around. It didn't look like much of the building had survived the explosion, and whatever had was charred beyond recognition.

He was about to get up and look for the others when he sensed an evil presence near by. Something so dark and evil that it could only be one being. Peeking over the rubble, Zane could see the Overlord, who had somehow managed to gain a physical form, standing over the rest of the ninja that had been in the building.

Jay and Nya were both unconscious, but Lloyd was struggling against the grip of two nindroids. The was blood coming out of a would on the teen's left arm, and he appeared to also have a black eye.

"You won't get away with this!" The blond shouted, glaring daggers at the powerful being.

The Overlord just chuckled, a terrifying noise that sent shivers down the white ninja's titanium spine.

"You've already lost green ninja, Ninjago is mine!" He then looked at another nindroid that was standing nearby," Where are the rest of them?"

"Pythor has the red ninja contained, while the other two have not been located yet. It is presumed that they died in the explosion."

"Well find me bodies or keep looking, I didn't spend all my time planning this just for two to go missing!"

The nindroid saluted and a small group started shifting through the rubble. The Overlord then walked off, the minions holding the ninja following him. Realizing that they where about to be found, Zane looked back at Cole. It didn't look like he would be waking up any time soon.

The robot was now had to make a choice, he could try to make a run for it while carrying the unconscious ninja, but he would most likely be apprehended before he even got down the street. He could also stay here and try to hide, but seeing how thoroughly the nindroids where searching, they would most likely be caught as well. The third way, which Zane refused to think about but had the highest chance of him escaping, was for him to leave Cole behind and make a run for it on his own.

None of those seemed any good, and the enemies where closing in quickly. Zane pressed himself against the pile of rubble and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the sound of an alarm and the feeling of vengestone cuffs being placed around his wrist, but it never happened.

There was the sound of an alarm, but instead of the nindriods reporting that they had found the ninja, he heard something different coming from their communicators.

"All troops on alert! The red ninja is attempting escape, backup requested in section 5!"

The search party instantly stopped what they where doing and ran away from destroyed building. Zane gave a sigh of relief then picked up the master of Earth. He tried to ignore the bad feeling that lodged itself in his gut at the thought of Kai trying to run from a whole squadron of nindroids and instead focused on finding somewhere for him and Cole to hide until they could make their next move.

~x~X~x~

Everyone was silent for a few moments after the ninja finished telling their tale.

"So that's how the Overlord was able to take over," Camille said, mostly to herself than anyone else.

"Yeah, me and Zane where on our own, since the Overlord got to you all before we could," Cole gestured to the elemental masters

"What happened to Fire Boy?" Karloff asked," You said he is gone but your story says he escaped."

"As you all know, I was able to hack into the Overlord's computer systems," Zane responded," All of the nindroids record what they see and send it back to the main computer, so we where able to find the footage of the ones that had been going after Kai."

"Pythor was leading him to some sort of vehicle, when he just snapped. He broke out of pythor's grip and stole the keys to the vendgestone cuffs they had him in and ran off," Cole sighed as he thought about the videos," He spent the next few days on the run, completely frying any nindroids that he crossed paths with."

"I have never seen Kai act the way he was acting during that time period," Zane added," It was like he became a wild animal."

"Soo... he basically went crazy?" Turner asked.

"I guess that's one way to put it," Cole responded," He probably thought that we died in the explosion, and he just couldn't handle it. When we watched his last battle with the nindroids, it was obvious he didn't care whether he lived or not."

Skylor gasped as she heard about what the person she loved had become during his last few days alive, but at the same time she knew it was inevitable in that situation. All of the ninja and their elements helped to balance each other out. Without the others around, Kai's flames had become a raging wild fire that not even he could hope to control. Of course, given all that had happened, she doubted he really wanted to control it.

No doubt he had allowed the raging flames to take over, in some effort to try and get away from the pain of losing his family, but that sort of hurt doesn't go away so easily.

"W-what happened, the last time Kai faced the nindroids?" Nya asked, not entirely sure that she wanted to hear the answer to that question.

Cole and Zane looked at each other, before Zane decided to respond," It happened in the very mountian range we are headed to now. A group of about 15 nindroids had managed to corner him, and Kai refused to stand down. He attacked, and managed to take down about seven of them before he was injured."

"Like injured, how badly exactly?" Camille inquired.

"I would rather not go into detail," Cole answered," But let's just say it wasn't pretty. He was just barely able to take down the rest of nindroids, but I think that might have had something to do with luck. The last nindroid still managed to land a hit on him, right before it was shut down."

The Earth ninja gave another sigh before he continued," There was so much blood everywhere, and no nindroids have seen him since then. No one has lived in those mountains for a long time, and Kai didn't have any sort of medical supplies with him... "

"The chances he could have survived the injuries he had are extremely small," Zane finished.

Jay wrapped an arm around his girlfriend, hoping that he could give her some sort of comfort, but knowing he couldn't really understand the pain she was going through. Sure he considered Kai a brother, but they weren't related by blood, and Jay had grown up a single child with two people who loved and raised him as their own.

Kai and Nya didn't have their parents growing up, and had relied on each other in order to survive in their small village. Though their parents might be back now, the siblings had a deep connection with one another.

The blue ninja knew that the girl in his arms was in a lot more pain than she was letting on, but also knew that if he tried to get her to open up, then she might push him away and make things worse. The thought of that happening terrified him, and he decided it would be best to wait till she was ready to talk to him.

Everyone else had stayed quite, and now it didn't seem that anyone was ready to break the silence that had enveloped the group.

Not even when the mountains came into view and Cole led them to a nearby cave.

It wasn't till the group had lit a fire and where handing out food rations that someone finally decided to talk.

"Finally," Dareth exclaimed," My poor feet can get some rest."

He plopped down on a rock with a sigh of relief and instantly started wolfing down his food.

"We could have gotten here a lot faster if you guys weren't such slow pokes," Griffen mumbled.

"You say something shortie," Tox asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

Griffen quickly shook his head and moved to the other side of the cave.

Nya sighed as she sat with her parents. Skylor came and sat down next to her. Neither one of them said a word, but they did give each other a small smile.

Jay tried to spark a conversation with the green ninja, but Lloyd didn't really feel like talking much. The blond appreciated his brother's attempt to cheer him up, he really did, but it just didn't feel the same with Kai gone.

Cole watched his teammates, not entirely sure how he could help them. He had been able to greive during the time him and Zane had been hiding in the old serpentine caves under the city. No one had heard word from the snakes after the Overlord had taken over, and there where plenty of rumors. Some say that they locked themselves back up in their tombs, while others say they made a deal with the Overlord and live in fortress.

Whatever the truth was, the ninja weren't going to get any help from them any time soon.

Everyone else where having small conversations among themselves, telling stories of things they had done before the take over, or how terrible the jobs they had been forced to do afterwords where.

After about an hour they all pulled out their sleeping bags and crammed together to get some sleep. The ninja and their families chose to sleep near each other, while the rest of the elemental master spread out where ever they could find room.

Jay and Nya cuddled up next to each other, and shared a quick good night kiss before falling asleep in each others arms. Lloyd stayed up a little longer, watching as everyone in the cave steadily slowed their breathing and fell asleep, before he eventually joined them.

Zane was the last one to go to sleep, a habit he had since long before the take over, since he liked to make sure all his brothers where safe and sleeping well before he allowed himself to power down for the night. Satisfied with what he saw, the nindroid curled up into his own sleeping bag before drifting off.

 **~x~X~x~**

 **Nya: Whoa, what happened? What is this place?**

 **Jay: Wha- oh, this place again**

 **Lloyd: You've been here before**

 **Cole: Yeah, just watch out for RD**

 **Zane: RD?**

 **Jay: Oh, just this crazy dragon that can summon us here whenever she wants, but we forget about it when we get sent back. Be careful, she could be hiding anywhere in here**

 **RD: like right behind you?**

 **Jay: AAAHHHHH!**

 **Kai: *Laughing* Dude, you scream like a girl**

 **Nya: KAI!**

 **Kai: SIS! *hugs Nya***

 **Cole: Hey, I didn't see you come in here with us**

 **Kai: I was already here, RD gave me my own room. And I can watch you guys whenever I want.**

 **Lloyd: So you got to sit and relax in this place while we have to run away from a bunch of killer robots?**

 **RD: Don't worry, I have to send him back eventually**

 **Kai: but not anytime soon, right?**

 **RD: Actually I have to go now, so you all get to go back**

 **Jay: Aww... Come on, just a little longer**

 **RD: Nope, bye**

 **Kai: Wait WHAT!? No no no, please don't send me back. I can't go back to th-**

 **RD: *snaps and all ninja disappear* Till next time internet peeps**


	6. Chapter 6

**And here be the next chapter...**

 **and it was really late when I did this**

 **and I found this part kinda difficult to write**

 **soo... this may not be my best work, but I suppose it is kinda necessary to put it in, I mean the ninja can't just poof to the Labrynth**

 **this basically just ended up being how some of the peeps be dealing with the loss**

 **(again, not really my best work, plus I have no real life experience in this sort of thing, unless having your favorite cat suddenly disappear or your baby bird get ran over counts)**

 **welp, onward to reviews:**

 **ABCSKW123-lX: Yeah, I haven't seen them around in a while either, but I gotta say, having six people and a dragon all trying to use the same computer isn't easy. Yup, if Kai's going out, he's going out in style.**

 **StoriesAreMagic: Well, that seems like a very Kai like thing to do. After all, the only thing he has is family. If you take that away, well prepare to get incinerated.**

 **Midnight: yeah, the Ninja fandom is awesome. I kinda know how you feel, I typically avoid stories where the ninja have kids, but sometimes I find a little gem that I am interested in seeing more of. Hey, I'm one of the best fisher-dragons around. Also, totally understand your thing with Kai, I adore the little spike head, yet I nearly freeze him to death in my first story and now this... Oh, and your story idea is awesome buuutt, you may be a wee bit off on a few minor details. I would explain more, but I don't want to give any spoilers ;)**

 **MasterofCupckes: WHAT!? Someone still has hope that Kai is alive!? Darn, I didn't do my job well enough. But yes, you should never listen to the odds.**

 **RPM Shadow: I'm glad you like my story, and yeah, I've heard that song. I acutally kinda want to animate it, like I know exactly which of my characters would fit it and everything, but that is something that would take a long time and I don't think I quite have enough time experience, or skills yet**

 **~x~X~x~**

The group of elementals and their close relatives and/or friends steadily made their way up the mountain path.

Lloyd sighed, remembering when he had been crossing these very mountains with his dad the last time the Overlord had attacked. Perhaps that was another reason that Cole chose to go here, because the OV would never suspect them to hide in the same place twice.

He had now lost three important people in his life, his father, his uncle, and his brother. Kai was surprisingly good at comforting those in need, Lloyd could only guess that was from years of taking care of his little sister, and had stuck by the blond's side after his father had been banished to the Cursed Realm.

Now he stayed close to his mother, once again feeling like a little kid wondering aimlessly around Ninjago in hopes of finding somewhere safe and warm to spend the night.

The green ninja knew he wasn't the only one grieving, but found he didn't even know how to help them.

Kai was always the one to encourage the team to keep moving forward when it seemed like there was no hope.

He once again found himself doubting his abilities as the green ninja, if he hadn't made Kai stay outside, or perhaps had someone else stay with him, then perhaps things would be different. Maybe then they would have stood a fighting chance against the nindroid army and defeated their enemy long before he had a chance to set up his empire.

Maybe then he wouldn't be feeling so cold and alone right now.

Jay made sure to stay close to Nya as they traveled. She was hiding how upset she was pretty well, but Jay had known her for quite some time. He himself hadn't really had time to grieve, but he put his girlfriend above everything else, and was determined to help her through this.

He knew Ray and Maya wanted to help her as well, but being as the family had only been together for a short time before the Overlord split them apart again, they hadn't really had a lot of time together, so they couldn't read their children as well as the Jay and the other ninja could.

That, paired up with the fact that siblings where never really open with their problems anyways, made it really difficult for the previous masters of fire and water to tell if something was wrong, let alone how to deal with it.

Now, they knew that their son's death had taken a toll on the young ninja, but they allowed Jay to be the one to comfort her. They still stayed close though, just in case something did happen that the lightning wielder couldn't handle.

"Alright guys, let's break for lunch," Cole said as he sat down on a large rock and started digging through his bag.

There where several sighs of relief as the group spread out and sat down on the rocky ground.

Dareth in particular seemed extremely happy as he pulled a beach chair out of his bag and sat down with a coconut in hand (how he got these things and fit them in his bag the world may never know).

Skylor sat a little ways away from the group, not really feeling like interacting with anyone right now. Sighing, she looked up at the sky, watching the clouds lazily float across the sky.

This kind of reminded her of when she was a little girl. When she wasn't training, she was allowed to roam the island all she wanted. She hadn't realized it then, but that actually showed how much he didn't really care about her. I mean, he was letting a young child explore through a thick jungle without anyone to watch over her.

There had been multiple times when she had nearly slipped off some cliff, or barely escaped from a large animal. Her training had helped her in those situations, but Chen wasn't teaching her how to fight just to defend herself.

He had planned on having her win the tournament all along, but he wasn't expecting the ninja to figure out so much about him so soon. He definitely wasn't expecting the future master of water to sneak onto the island and steal the spell.

But despite all that, it still seemed that her father was going to win. For every step the ninja took, Chen and Clouse found a way to push them back.

If it wasn't for a certain ninja in red, then she would still be working for her father and Ninjago would have been taken over by a bunch of phony anacondrai warriors. Originally she had just been taking advantage of his little crush on her, and kept him interested by playing that mysterious girl whom he could never seem to grab a hold of.

But that had started to change after she heard that Kai was going to be fighting Ash in the tournament. During the battle, she held her breath as the two elementals battled over the lava, and found herself unwilling to watch when it looked like the brunette was about to fall. But he managed to pull through, and the redhead found herself cheering for him as he held up the jade blade.

She hadn't known it then, but the master of fire had managed to light a small spark in her heart, and she definitely didn't know why it had bothered her so much when Kai started avoiding her the next morning, even going as leave a room if she walked in.

She tried to shake off the weird feelings she had, telling herself she had to stay focused on her mission, but when she saw the hopeful look in the fire ninja's golden amber eyes during her fight with Jacob, she found herself wanting to get closer to him.

She even tried to get him to switch sides during the Thunderblade game, but she should have known that would never work. He was to loyal to his friends, and when he stated that he would rather stick with his brothers that team up with her...

Man, her emotions where so mixed up back then. Skylor still found it hard to believe that Kai had been willing to give her a second chance after she had betrayed him. She could still see the hurt in his eyes from when she had helped captured him. It had nearly broke her heart when she saw the how defeated the red clad teen had looked while they where being led to the room where their powers would be stolen.

He admitted that he had really had feelings for her, and even though she knew that it was meant to make her feel bad about her betraying him, she couldn't help but smile. He refused to look at her after that, even when she asked her father to spare the ninja from working in the factory.

Later, when Kai asked her to be the one to change sides, she realized that she couldn't refuse. Not only would she have a chance to be with the one who had stirred up these strange feelings she had never felt before, but it would also be her chance to get away from the person who she had finally realized didn't really care for her, and only wanted her around because of her powers.

Together they stopped Chen's ceremony and gave everyone back their elements, but she ended up getting caught in the process. After everything she had done, Kai went after her, helping her to temporarily escape and bringing the two them closer as their relationship steadily developed.

He helped her in so many ways, and she would forever be grateful to the amber eyed teen for everything he had done.

But now she would never get the chance to repay him.

She didn't even notice that tears where running down her face till she felt someone wrap their arm around her. Looking up, she saw Zane, who gave her a small smile.

They didn't say anything, but the redhead was glad for the nindroids company.

Zane himself was still upset about his brother's death, but he knew from experience that the only thing he could do was to move on. It wouldn't be easy, and that paired with the fact that Pixal was still down didn't help, but it was something he was going to have to face at some point or another.

Unless something manages to permanently shut down his systems, Zane will live for far longer than his brothers. He had decided that not to dwell on this fact a long time ago, and instead focused on the time he had with them now, and right now they all needed some help getting over the loss of the fire ninja.

He had seen Cole sitting with Lloyd, and Nya still chose to stick close to Jay, but Skylor had chosen to stay by herself. He did not know the green eyed girl as well as his other friends, but he knew that Kai wouldn't want her to be sad.

So naturally he went to comfort her. She gave him a ghost of a smile, her attempt at thanking him, before gazing back up at the sky.

The other elemental masters did not know Kai as well, so while they might be saddened by the fact that he is no longer here, they where not really in need of anyone to help them. They seemed to be content with just talking among themselves.

Cole called that it was time to move out again. Everyone packed up their things and continued on their way through the mountains.

The black ninja glanced back at the group as he walked, knowing that all his friends where grieving in some way or another. He could only hope that this wouldn't tear the team apart again. None of them where proud of what they had done after Zane's death, but they hadn't been able to stop it from happening.

Hopefully they would stay together. In a time like this, it was all they could do if they wanted to survive long enough to defeat the Overlord.

~x~X~x~

 **RD: There we go, the chapter that I only worked on when I was absolutely positively bored**

 **Kai: Hey, I told you you could of made it more interesting if you had a rock fall out of the sky and hit Jay on the head**

 **RD: Yeah, but then who would be comforting your sister right now?**

 **Kai:...**

 **Jay: You know we can hear you guys right**

 **RD: Yeah**

 **Cole: So Kai what did Kai mean by you making a rock fall out of the sky?**

 **Kai: Didn't you guys know? We're just cartoon characters from a TV show and RD here is writing a fanfiction about us, so this whole thing with the OV coming back is from her head.**

 **RD: And to think that english is actually the class I have the lowest grade in**

 **Lloyd: You go to school**

 **RD: Yeah, dragon school**

 **Ninja:...**

 **Jay: Hey Kai, since your dead can you tell us what it's like being in the departed realm?**

 **Kai: Well ac-**

 **Jay: Is everything all green and ghosty looking, or is all bright and colorful? And does it have a ground, I mean if it's a realm for ghosts then they could just fly everywhere, so maybe they have flying houses, do they Kai?**

 **Kai: I was tryi-**

 **Jay: Oh, and what about Morro, did you meet him there? Are any of our old enemies there to? Did you get into fights with them? Are there any animals? Is th... *continues asking questions***

 **Kai: *backs away slowly***

 **Lloyd: Uhh, I think it's about time you sent us back. I'm not sure how much more of this I can handle**

 **Jay: *Still asking questions***

 **RD: I'm gonna have to agree with you on that**

 **Kai: Darn it Jay, now I have to go back to**

 **Jay: Really, how can you be complaining when you aren't even in the story? You only have to spend what, like an hour in there before you can come back up?**

 **RD: Actually, the time varies depending on how fast I write the next chapter, now say bye to the audiance**

 **Cole: Wait, there's people watching us**

 **Kai: No, they aren't watching us. There just reading everything you say. I did mention it was fanfiction didn't I?**

 **RD: And that's all the time we have, bye folks**

 ***snaps fingers and ninja disappear***

 **RD: See you all next update :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, I'm back with a new chappie**

 **The group has finally made it out of the mountains and into the jungle. What new dangers await them there I wonder?**

 **SweetHeart114: ha ha, I'm glad you like my story so far, and that I am apparently doing a good job of describing everyone's emotions throughout their travels as well.**

 **ABCSKW123-IX: The group definitely has a lot of emotions going around right now, hopefully things will get better soon**

 **RPM Shadow: I know that song well, though I can't say I plan on putting it in this fic. Though there might be a scene that includes some singing later on, depends on how things go**

 **Boomletstudios: Here be the next leg of their journy**

 **Midnight: Sorry, you won't be finding out what happened to Kai this chapter, but prehaps you will be soon**

 **MasterofCupcakes: Yeah, I did find it a slight challenge trying to get everyone's emotions correctly, but I'm glad to hear that I did good. Poor Sky, she could really use a hug right now**

 **TheNinjaOfArt: I'm not the best at spanish, but I got the gist of what you said, and here be a new chapter for ya :3**

 **~x~X~x~**

Birds, insects, and various other things that the group would rather try not to identify chirped and called as the small group of rebels made their way through the thick jungle of Hiroshi's labyrinth. It had taken many hours of walking, and listening to Dareth's complaints, but they where finally here. Lloyd was in the front, hacking through the thick undergrowth while the others followed. Now that they where here, they needed to find some sort of shelter where they could lay low until they where ready to take on the Overlord and his vast armies of robots.

Cole was glad Lloyd was once again taking the role of leader. He knew Lloyd would never give up when it came to trying to save Ninjago. The loss of the fire ninja was another reason for them to defeat them to defeat the OV, which they where going to do. The raven haired teen didn't have a doubt that they couldn't do it, it was just going to take a bit of time.

The sun was beginning to get low in the sky, casting long shadows and making it even difficult to see anything on the jungle floor.

"Everyone keep on the look out for somewhere we can take shelter for the night," Lloyd looked back at the group," It will be nearly impossible to travel through this place once it gets dark without giving our position away to whatever it is that was destroying those nindroids."

"Y-you mean those nindroids?" Jay asked, pointing at something ahead of the group.

A few meters away, there where about five or six dead robots laying on the ground. Their chests where all ripped open and much of their internal systems was missing.

Zane walked forward to examine the empty shells.

"Interesting," he said as he look at the damage on the outside of the machines.

"What's interesting?" Griffen asked as he leaned over one of the nindroids.

"All of these nindroids where shut down the same way," The white ninja picked one up to show the others," A sudden attack from behind, that pierced strait through it's armor. It's internal machinery was taken out afterwords."

"Why animal take metal men parts?" Karloff asked, scratching his head.

"That's the thing, I have looked through my database and all of the known animals from here wouldn't"

"Hold on," Jay took a step forward so he could get a better look at the damage," Are you trying to tell us that a person did this?"

"It is a very good possibility," The nindroid replied," The damage does appear to match up with the use of a weapon, rather than what would have been done by one of the inhabitants of this jungle."

"We are going to have to try and figure this out in the morning," Lloyd stated as he glanced up at the sky," We only have a few minutes of light left."

"I saw the clearing nearby that we can camp in," Neuro suggested, pointing in the general direction of where he had seen it," It might be out in the open but then we won't have the thick foliage above our heads making it impossible to see anything."

"It will have to do for now, we can look for a proper shelter tomorrow," The blond glanced around," There's no telling what we could encounter if we stay out here to long."

"Or who," Jay added as he checked the nindroids to see if anything useful had been left behind. Finding nothing, he stood up, and was suddenly hit with the feeling that he was being watched.

Glancing around, he thought he saw something moving in the tree. He was about to say something when he noticed that the group was moving on without him.

"Hey, wait up!" He started running to catch up with them. If he had turned around, he would have noticed a figure come out from behind a tree.

But he didn't, so Jay quickly wrote off the strange feeling he had as just a part of his overactive imagination.

~x~X~x~

The ninja sat on the outskirts of the makeshift camp the elemental masters had put up. Everyone was currently either talking, eating, or sleeping.

"So what are we going to do now?" Nya asked, sitting next to her boyfriend as the group planned their next move.

"Once we find a big enough hideout, we are going to need to assess everyone's physical and mental conditions," Lloyd stated," Then we are going to start training."

"Training for what?" Jay asked," The Overlord already beat all of us once."

"And we have beaten the Overlord twice," Zane pointed out," Just because a situation looks bad does not mean we should give up hope."

It was at that moment that Dareth decided to run up to the group.

"Hey guys, look what I just found." The self proclaimed brown ninja held out his arm, showing a small creature perched on top of it. It somewhat resembled a small dragon, except it stood on it's hind legs and didn't have wings. It's front legs where small and ended in small three fingured hands. It was also completely covered in fluffy light brown feathers. A long tail stetched out behind it, helping it keep it's balance as Dareth excited explained how he had found it while going to use the bathroom.

"The little thing was hiding under a bush, and surely would have been eaten by some large predator if I hadn't come along and rescued it."

The ninja looked at each other before Zane spoke up," Do you sure that it was wise to take this animal here?"

"Of course I do. Just look at the cute little fellow, I doubt he would have lasted 5 minutes without my help. Besides, what harm could one little whatever this is do?"

Suddenly, a loud screech came from the jungle.

"What was that?" Jay asked, instantly moving closer to Nya as he scanned the thick foliage for the source of the noise.

"Maybe if we all stay quite," Cole whispered," Whatever it is won't know we're here."

Another screech pierced the air, not as loud but higher pitched. The ninja all turned to look at the small animal on Dareth's arm.

"Dareth, where exactly did you find that again?" Lloyd asked.

"I told you it was under a bush. It was just sitting there in this little shallow hole surrounded by a couple of feathers and some twigs."

"You know, it's starting to sound less like you rescued it and more like you took it from it's nest," Nya stated. She noticed movement to her left but couldn't see what had caused it.

"Umm... is that a bad thing?" Dareth glanced back down at the animal.

A large crashing sound soon followed as a much larger version of the feathered creature jumped out of the bushes and landed near the fire. It's feathers weren't fluffy, like the baby, but instead smooth and somewhat iridescent. It's large yellow eyes instantly locked onto the young one and it gave out another large screech.

The ninja all grabbed their weapons as the strange beast took a step towards them.

"Get ready guys," Lloyd ordered.

"It looks like Mama isn't very happy we have her baby," Jay stated.

"We can do this," Cole stated," There's five of us, plus all of the other elemental masters and only one of it."

The creature cried out and soon multiple replies came from the jungle. More of them started pouring out of the trees and circling the camp.

"You where saying Cole," The blue ninja glared at the older teen for a second, before sending a blast of lightning at one of the feathered beasts that had tried to jump on him.

"Everyone huddle together," Zane yelled out," Otherwise the will pick us off one by one."

The group all gathered into a circle, keeping their backs to the center and watching as the beasts circled around them.

"Shade duck!" Neuro suddenly called out.

The master of shadow quickly performed the action, just barely dodging one of the creatures that had been attempting to pounce on him. It landed in the middle of the circle and gave a low hiss. Karloff then grabbed it's tail and threw it across the clearing.

"Well now I don't think they need to get so upset over this," Edna complained," Dareth was just playing with the little one is all."

"That's true dear," Ed agreed," But how would you feel if someone just took Jay while we where out doing something"

"Oh your right, if that happened to our little boy then I would get really upset."

"Mom," Jay complained as he zapped a creature that had been attempting to sneak up on the couple.

"Oh don't worry about us honey bun," Edna patted her son's back.

"Yeah, we're always prepared for situations like this," Ed pulled out a small contraption that shot out bright glowing ball. The ball made a small explosion when it landed and all the creatures near it hissed and ran into the shadows of the jungle.

Lloyd glanced at his teammates to check how they where faring and noticed that Dareth was still holding the baby.

"Do you seriously still have that thing?!"

"It wouldn't stop following me around, and it's so adorab-," The brown eyed man suddenly screamed as one of the creatures came charging strait at him.

Cole threw a large rock at it, breaking it's spine as it was pinned against the ground.

"It's is going to get us killed if you don't give it back," Nya shouted as she shot a stream of water at any of the creatures that got to close.

"But we have a connection," Dareth looked down at the small fluffy chick," Don't we little guy."

The creature apparently didn't feel the same as it jumped and and bit his nose.

"Get it off, get it off!" the brown ninja screamed as he ran around in circles.

Camille pulled the small animal off of Dareth's face and threw towards the adult creatures that where circling.

One of the beasts, which the group assumed to be the mother grabbed the young creature carefully with it's mouth and disappeared into the jungle.

The rest of the creatures watched their pack mate leave, then turned back to the humans in the center of the clearing. Instead of leaving, like everyone had been hoping they would, they started to circle in an even tighter circle than before.

"They must see us as a threat to both their young and their territory," Zane stated, " Now that they don't have to worry about the young one getting hurt they are preparing to attack us full force.

"You mean they weren't before?!" Jay asked, attempting to push the creatures back with another bolt of electricity.

Cole gripped the handle of his scythe tighter as he watched the creatures circling closer. A loud cry went up and another creature stalked it's way out of the forest. This one was larger, and unlike the others, which had plumage that was a mix of dark browns and greens, this one had bright red running along the sides of it's head and going down it's body to it's tail. The entire tail tip was a bright blue color, somewhat reminding the master of earth of a parrot.

A giant parrot with big claws and teeth and that looked ready to tear him and his friends to shreds any minute.

"Guys, this really doesn't look good," Jay stated, taking a small step backwards.

"Hold your ground," Lloyd ordered," If it's a fight they want then that's what they are going to get."

The alpha of the creatures glared at the green ninja, seeming to have picked him out as the leader of the group.

He gave a low hiss and all of the other creatures lowered down into an attack position.

The elemental masters responded by getting into their defensive posters.

Lloyd and the alpha glared at each other. both watching the other to see who would move first.

Finally, after what felt like ages but was probably closer to 30 seconds, the alpha let out a loud screech and all of the other creatures lunged forward to attack.

 **~x~X~x~**

 **RD: Phew, that took a lot longer than expected**

 **Kai: So what exactly are those things?**

 **RD: Actually, I based them off of austroraptors, just tweeked a bit to make them more suited for my story and living in the jungle.**

 **Kai: Austro what now?**

 **RD: There a type of dinosaur, a little smaller than the size of a human, with long snouts and tails. Though the ones in the story don't have the wing or tail feathers, and their arms are longer to help them with climbing.**

 **Kai: Ok then...**

 **Jay: Hey guys!**

 **Kai: *jumps* Whoa dude, don't sneak up on me like that.**

 **Cole: So you decided to leave us surrounded by a bunch of man eating dinosaur like things?**

 **RD: Yup, I think it's a good cliff hanger**

 **Zane: But we are not hanging off of a cliff**

 **RD: Well, I hope all you peeps out there enjoyed the chapter**

 **Jay: It would be better if it didn't look like we are about to die**

 **RD: See you all next time :D**


End file.
